Imagination launches a tiny GPU for the next generation of wearable technology

IMAGINATION TECHNOLOGIES HAS UNVEILED a PowerVR graphics processor core design that it claims offers "the industry's smallest" Android compatible GPU to help power the growing number of devices coming into existence thanks to the internet of things (IoT).

Named the PowerVR Series5XE GX5300, the GPU is the latest in a line of components featuring a small 0.55mm2 silicon footprint with full support for APIs such as OpenGL ES 2.0 as well as having low power consumption and Imagination's PVRTC texture compression technology, which refers to the firm's compression standard for its PowerVR graphics cores.

"With the new PowerVR Series5XE GX5300 core, companies can create compelling GUIs and user experiences with longer battery life for a range of low-cost, area constrained applications," said Imagination. "The GX5300 core builds upon previous Series5 devices, with improvements in efficiency, providing an ideal low-power solution for entry-level smartphones, wearables, IoT and other small footprint embedded applications."

The GX5300 features PowerVR's programmable shader-based tile based deferred rendering (TBDR) architecture that leads to high performance efficiency and the low power consumption per frame while the PVRTC technology ensures a smaller memory footprint and better image quality.

Imagination said that the PowerVR GX5300 has been designed for graphics efficiency in ultra-compact silicon area to gain better real device performance and compatibility without overhead. In a blog post, Imagination gave some use cases for the new GPU, and said system architects can use PowerVR GX5300 GPUs for devices that require graphics rendering for interactive home automation controls.

"For example, electronic appliances can be equipped with multimedia displays that show readings such as temperature or humidity but can also connect to the internet to bring up cake recipes, best storage practices for certain products or washing tips and tricks for clothes," the firm explained.

The PowerVR GX5300 core is available for licensing now, Imagination said. µ